Senate continues resisting reform, webcasting

Posted 3/09/2009 12:20:00 AM

The Senate set the stage on Saturday for the possible killing a proposal to begin webcasting audio and video of its proceedings, and could vote down the bill as early as today.

The body, which has been openly resistant to ethics reform and transparency measures in recent years, also killed an ethics-reform proposal on Saturday.

An “ethics sham” is how Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, characterized things after the Senate killed his bill that would prohibit lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for a year after their final term expires and added amendments to the bill that would authorize webcasting. The latter ensures that the bill needs approval of two-thirds of senators instead of a simple majority and appears likely to doom it.

Gov. Bill Richardson was not pleased when senators killed Griego’s Senate Bill 163 on a vote of 14-22.

“Governor Richardson is disappointed that the Senate rejected a common-sense ethics proposal that already applies to the executive branch,” said Gilbert Gallegos, the governor’s deputy chief of staff. “Nevertheless, the governor is hopeful that the Legislature will pass a ban on contractor contributions, limits on campaign contributions and an independent ethics commission.”

Griego pointed out that 25 other states have enacted such bans.

‘Poison pill’ amendments

As for webcasting, the Santa Fe Reporter has the goods on what it calls two “poison pill” amendments proposed by Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales, that were approved by the Senate.

Senate Resolution 3, sponsored by Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, would officially allow live audio and video webcasting from the Senate floor. The amendments restrict allowable camera angles and create an oversight body to handle webcasting.

Approving the bill as passed by the Senate Rules Committee would have required a simple majority. The amendments make the road to approval more difficult, if not impossible. Griego said the move “made webcasting unlikely on the Senate floor.” And Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, was quoted by the Reporter as saying that the attempt to secure approval of webcasting is now “hopeless.”

The bill was tabled because one member was not able to make it to the floor on Saturday to vote, but it could be brought back up again today.

The debacle is the newest chapter in a battle over webcasting in the Senate. Last month, the Senate Committee’s Committee decided to take a step toward webcasting by allowing cameras to be reinstalled in the Senate gallery with the intention of beginning webcasting later this session. Boitano’s resolution is necessary to set the ground rules.

The decision last month to reinstall the cameras in the Senate was a shift for the bipartisan Committee’s Committee. Though equipment was purchased and installed last year for the purpose of webcasting audio and video from the Senate floor, the committee later killed that plan, blaming the budget crunch, and had the cameras taken down.